Business entities require business software for performing an array of essential tasks. Communication, planning, inventory control, order processing, systems monitoring, and nearly every facet of a business' operations. A business entity often requires a software solution with features, interfaces, data management, and other aspects unique to that one specific company. Yet, core functions may be similar among the different unique solutions. These core functions may be provided to several, unique business entities, e.g., companies. In addition to needing to vary several initial deployments among a variety of customer-companies, these varied implementations may need constant updating, to evolve with the evolving business' needs.
Software developers may design and provide a set of software tools in a generic or universal form. These tools may be controlled by a set of customization data that is specific to each unique customer. Unlike the companies transactional data, which may include millions of data records or more, the configuration and customization data may represent a very small and rarely changing set of data. This data may modify, instantiate, activate, or otherwise implement the provided tools, in a customer specific manner. With the configuration data, customers may be able to modify every aspect of their software experience, including defining the user interfaces, what functions are available on the interfaces, and/or what fields are provided to the user.
To help maintain these software packages, SAP® AG introduced an enhancement package strategy as a means to simplify the way customers manage and deploy new software functionality. Customers may selectively implement these software innovations from a developer and activate the software upon business demand. As a result, customers can isolate the impact of software updates from introducing/rolling out new functionality and bring new functionality online faster through shortened testing cycles. Customers no longer have to plan for major releases every few years. They may now choose to selectively implement the business functions or technical improvements that add the value that matters most to their business. A development team may use enhancement packages to quickly and easily deliver business and industry-specific functionality, enterprise services, and other functions that help improve and simplify the use of software through user interfaces and other end-to-end process improvements.
These enhancement packages may be cumulative from a functional perspective, e.g., current enhancement packages may contain the entire content of earlier packages. So each enhancement package may be based on the previous one. Enhancement packages may also have the same maintenance duration as the underlying core application. Each enhancement package may contain new versions of existing software components. With the enhancement packages customers can choose which software components are updated in their systems, depending on the new/extended functionality they want to use.
In some solutions it may be that new functionality must be explicitly switched on to become active/visible in the system. A unit within an enhancement package which can be activated/switched on may be referred to as a “business function.” Activating a business function may trigger switches, which then may influence the execution of the code enhancements. These switches may ensure that customers only see, feel, or can make use of the new functionality if they have activated them. The activation process may additionally start a job in the overall system that automatically performs all the needed changes in the system.
In the following, like numbered elements in these figures are either similar elements or perform an equivalent function. Elements which have been discussed previously will not necessarily be discussed in later figures if the function is equivalent.